Social Media: The New Political Battleground

Social Media: The New Political Battleground

Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 6:30 p.m.

Admission is FREE. Advance reservations required.

F.M. Kirby Auditorium

National Constitution Center

525 Arch Street | Independence Mall

This year's presidential race is arguably the first to fully reflect a major political shift to the digital world. Former Governor Tim Pawlenty announced his run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination on Facebook. Newt Gingrich announced his via Twitter. Presidential campaign staffers are working around the clock to turn online supporters into voters and donors. Will candidates who don’t show up on this digital playing field be left in the dust? Political strategists and social media/technology experts Maria Cardona, Andrew Rasiej, Daniel Sieberg, Alex Torpey and Todd Van Etten take a hard look at the role of social media and its impact on the 2012 presidential campaign. Jonathan Capehart of The Washington Post moderates.

GUEST SPEAKERS:

Maria Cardona is a seasoned Democratic strategist, public affairs and communications professional with more than 20 years experience in the political, government, public relations, campaign, community and coalition building arenas. She currently is a Principal at the Dewey Square Group where she heads the firm’s Public Affairs Practice, combining public policy, communications, coalition building, constituency outreach, government relations, traditional and new media. She is also a frequent political commentator and issues analyst on CNN, MSNBC, Fox, Univision, Telemundo, and CNN en Español appearing as a public policy expert and providing political analysis on all manner of national issues.

Daniel Sieberg is currently a spokesperson with the Google Politics and Elections team. An Emmy-nominated and award winning TV correspondent, host and author, Sieberg’s work has appeared on a variety of networks and in countless publications including CBS News, CNN, ABC News, MSNBC, BBC News. From 2006-2010 Sieberg was the CBS News science and technology correspondent. Prior to joining CBS, Sieberg was the technology correspondent for CNN.

Jonathan Capehart is a member of The Washington Post’s editorial board and writes about politics and social issues for the PostPartisan blog. He is also an MSNBC contributor, appearing regularly on Morning Joe and other dayside programs. Prior to joining The Post in 2007, Capehart was the deputy editor of New York Daily News’s editorial page from 2002 to 2005. He worked as a policy adviser to Michael Bloomberg in his successful campaign for mayor of New York City, he was a national affairs columnist for Bloomberg News from 2000 to 2001, and he was a member of the Daily News editorial board from 1993 to 2000.

Andrew Rasiej is the founder of Personal Democracy Media and co-founder of TechPresident. As a technology and social media campaign strategist, Rasiej has counseled political leaders and senior government officials including President Bill Clinton, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Senator Tom Daschle and Congressional Minority Leader Dick Gephardt. During the 2004 presidential elections, then-presidential candidate Howard Dean named Rasiej chairman of the technology advisory committee for the Dean for America Campaign. In 2010, Rasiej was named chairman of the New York Tech Meetup.

Alex Torpey is a social media entrepreneur who, at 24, is one of the youngest mayors in the country. Torpey utilized social media tools in his campaign and continues to use them in the governance of South Orange, New Jersey.

Todd Van Etten is the Managing Director of Crowdverb, a social mobilization company for corporations and campaigns. Prior to joining Crowdverb, Van Etten was the New Media Director for the Republican National Committee where he oversaw the largest technological upgrades in party history, including a complete rebranding of the flagship GOP.com.

PARKING & EVENT INFORMATION:

Parking is available for $9.00 at the National Constitution Center parking garage located at the rear of the building on Race Street between 5th and 6th Streets.

Advance reservations required; call 215.409.6700 or order online. Please note that this program is subject to change; call the National Constitution Center or check our website for updated information. National Constitution Center programs begin promptly and latecomers may not be admitted.

Presented in partnership with

This event is part of Election 2012, the Center’s yearlong programming series on the key issues facing Americans during this important election year.